Saarlouis
Encyclopedia
Saarlouis is a city in the Saarland
, Germany
, capital of the district of Saarlouis
. In 2006, the town had a population of 38,327. Saarlouis, as the name implies, is located at the river Saar
.
It was built as a fortress in 1680 and named after Louis XIV of France
.
With the Treaties of Peace of Nijmegen
in 1678/79, the Lorraine
fell to France. In 1680, Louis XIV of France
gave order to build a fortification (to defend the new French Eastern frontier) on the banks of the river Saar which was called Sarre-Louis. France's famous military engineer
, Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, constructed the city, the plans were made by Thomas de Choisy, the city's first Gouvenour.
In 1683, Louis XIV visited the fortress and granted arms. The coat of arms shows the rising sun and three Fleur-de-lis
. The heraldic motto is Dissipat Atque Fovet: She (the sun) dispels (the clouds) and heats (the earth).
In 1697, with the Treaty of Ryswick
, most parts of Lorraine gained independence again, but Saarlouis and the surrounding areas remained a French exclave.
During the French Revolution, the town was renamed Sarre-Libre, but it returned to its original name in 1810.
With the Treaty of Paris
in 1815, Saarlouis (and the whole region later known as the Saargebiet) became Prussian
.
After the First World War, French troops occupied Saarlouis. The Saargebiet became a protectorate of the League of Nations
for a period of 15 years.
In 1933, a considerable number of anti-Nazi
Germans fled to the Saar, as it was the only part of Germany left outside the Third Reich's control. As a result, anti-Nazi groups campaigned heavily for the Saarland to remain under control of League of Nations
as long as Adolf Hitler
ruled Germany. However, long-held sentiments against France remained entrenched, with very few sympathizing openly with France. When the 15-year-term was over, a plebiscite was held in the territory on 13 January 1935: 90.3% of those voting wished to rejoin Germany.
From 1936 till 1945, Saarlouis was named as Saarlautern (-lautern being a common ending of town and village names in Germany) in an attempt by the Nazis to Germanize the town name.
After World War II
, the region (then called the Saarland
), was again occupied by France.
In a plebiscite in 1955, most of the people in the Saarland opted for the reunification with the Federal Republic of Germany, and on January 1, 1957, it became the 10th federal state of West Germany.
In 1980, Saarlouis celebrated its 300th anniversary.
dominates the city's hexagonal floor plan. Beside the buildings made by Vauban, there are also some constructions left from the 19th century when the Prussians got control over the town.
After 1887, some parts of the fortress were slighted
, but many buildings and places, e.g. the casemates, some barracks
and the Great Market with the Commander's Office and the Vauban island,a former ravelin
with a memorial for Michel Ney
can still be seen today.
is the city's largest employer, producing the Ford Focus. The plant in the Roederberg suburb is one of Ford's most efficient facilities worldwide.
The industrial port in Saarlouis-Roden is Germany's 8th largest inland port
.
The city is located 20 minutes' drive from France, and 45 minutes from Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg
.
It is connected to Saarbrücken
by the A 620
and with Luxembourg by the A 8
.
, since 1969 Eisenhüttenstadt
, Germany
, since 1986 (the first West and East German town twinning
) Matiguás
, Nicaragua
, since 1986 Bochnia
, since 2001
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, capital of the district of Saarlouis
Saarlouis (district)
Saarlouis is a Kreis in the middle of the Saarland, Germany. Neighboring districts are Merzig-Wadern, Sankt Wendel, Neunkirchen, Saarbrücken, and the French département Moselle.-History:...
. In 2006, the town had a population of 38,327. Saarlouis, as the name implies, is located at the river Saar
Saar River
The Saar is a river in northeastern France and western Germany, and a right tributary of the Moselle. It rises in the Vosges mountains on the border of Alsace and Lorraine and flows northwards into the Moselle near Trier. It has two headstreams , that both start near Mont Donon, the highest peak...
.
It was built as a fortress in 1680 and named after Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
.
History
Treaties of Nijmegen
The Treaties of Peace of Nijmegen were a series of treaties signed in the Dutch city of Nijmegen between August 1678 and December 1679...
in 1678/79, the Lorraine
Lorraine (province)
The Duchy of Upper Lorraine was an historical duchy roughly corresponding with the present-day northeastern Lorraine region of France, including parts of modern Luxembourg and Germany. The main cities were Metz, Verdun, and the historic capital Nancy....
fell to France. In 1680, Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV , known as Louis the Great or the Sun King , was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre. His reign, from 1643 to his death in 1715, began at the age of four and lasted seventy-two years, three months, and eighteen days...
gave order to build a fortification (to defend the new French Eastern frontier) on the banks of the river Saar which was called Sarre-Louis. France's famous military engineer
Military engineer
In military science, engineering refers to the practice of designing, building, maintaining and dismantling military works, including offensive, defensive and logistical structures, to shape the physical operating environment in war...
, Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban, constructed the city, the plans were made by Thomas de Choisy, the city's first Gouvenour.
In 1683, Louis XIV visited the fortress and granted arms. The coat of arms shows the rising sun and three Fleur-de-lis
Fleur-de-lis
The fleur-de-lis or fleur-de-lys is a stylized lily or iris that is used as a decorative design or symbol. It may be "at one and the same time, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic", especially in heraldry...
. The heraldic motto is Dissipat Atque Fovet: She (the sun) dispels (the clouds) and heats (the earth).
In 1697, with the Treaty of Ryswick
Treaty of Ryswick
The Treaty of Ryswick or Ryswyck was signed on 20 September 1697 and named after Ryswick in the Dutch Republic. The treaty settled the Nine Years' War, which pitted France against the Grand Alliance of England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the United Provinces.Negotiations started in May...
, most parts of Lorraine gained independence again, but Saarlouis and the surrounding areas remained a French exclave.
During the French Revolution, the town was renamed Sarre-Libre, but it returned to its original name in 1810.
With the Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1815)
Treaty of Paris of 1815, was signed on 20 November 1815 following the defeat and second abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte. In February, Napoleon had escaped from his exile on Elba; he entered Paris on 20 March, beginning the Hundred Days of his restored rule. Four days after France's defeat in the...
in 1815, Saarlouis (and the whole region later known as the Saargebiet) became Prussian
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
.
After the First World War, French troops occupied Saarlouis. The Saargebiet became a protectorate of the League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
for a period of 15 years.
In 1933, a considerable number of anti-Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
Germans fled to the Saar, as it was the only part of Germany left outside the Third Reich's control. As a result, anti-Nazi groups campaigned heavily for the Saarland to remain under control of League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
as long as Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
ruled Germany. However, long-held sentiments against France remained entrenched, with very few sympathizing openly with France. When the 15-year-term was over, a plebiscite was held in the territory on 13 January 1935: 90.3% of those voting wished to rejoin Germany.
From 1936 till 1945, Saarlouis was named as Saarlautern (-lautern being a common ending of town and village names in Germany) in an attempt by the Nazis to Germanize the town name.
After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the region (then called the Saarland
Saarland
Saarland is one of the sixteen states of Germany. The capital is Saarbrücken. It has an area of 2570 km² and 1,045,000 inhabitants. In both area and population, it is the smallest state in Germany other than the city-states...
), was again occupied by France.
In a plebiscite in 1955, most of the people in the Saarland opted for the reunification with the Federal Republic of Germany, and on January 1, 1957, it became the 10th federal state of West Germany.
In 1980, Saarlouis celebrated its 300th anniversary.
Fortifications
Even today, the ancient fortressFortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
dominates the city's hexagonal floor plan. Beside the buildings made by Vauban, there are also some constructions left from the 19th century when the Prussians got control over the town.
After 1887, some parts of the fortress were slighted
Slighting
A slighting is the deliberate destruction, partial or complete, of a fortification without opposition. During the English Civil War this was to render it unusable as a fort.-Middle Ages:...
, but many buildings and places, e.g. the casemates, some barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
and the Great Market with the Commander's Office and the Vauban island,a former ravelin
Ravelin
A ravelin is a triangular fortification or detached outwork, located in front of the innerworks of a fortress...
with a memorial for Michel Ney
Michel Ney
Michel Ney , 1st Duc d'Elchingen, 1st Prince de la Moskowa was a French soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of France created by Napoleon I...
can still be seen today.
Economics and infrastructure
Saarlouis was famous for its nearby steel and iron ore production and its nearby mining facilities. Today, the Ford Motor CompanyFord Motor Company
Ford Motor Company is an American multinational automaker based in Dearborn, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. The automaker was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. In addition to the Ford and Lincoln brands, Ford also owns a small stake in Mazda in Japan and Aston Martin in the UK...
is the city's largest employer, producing the Ford Focus. The plant in the Roederberg suburb is one of Ford's most efficient facilities worldwide.
Inland port
The term inland port is used in two different but related ways to mean either a port on an inland waterway or an inland site carrying out some functions of a seaport.- As a port on an inland waterway :...
.
The city is located 20 minutes' drive from France, and 45 minutes from Luxembourg City, the capital of Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
.
It is connected to Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken
Saarbrücken is the capital of the state of Saarland in Germany. The city is situated at the heart of a metropolitan area that borders on the west on Dillingen and to the north-east on Neunkirchen, where most of the people of the Saarland live....
by the A 620
Bundesautobahn 620
is an autobahn in Germany, connecting Saarlouis with Saarbrücken. Together with the A 6, it serves as part of the connection between Luxembourg and Germany. As the mayor part of the BAB 620 is alongside the river Saar, one section in Saarbrücken, the so-called "Stadtautobahn" is subject...
and with Luxembourg by the A 8
Bundesautobahn 8
is an autobahn in southern Germany that runs 497 km from the Luxembourg A13 motorway at Schengen via Neunkirchen, Pirmasens, Karlsruhe, Stuttgart, Ulm, Augsburg and Munich to the Austrian West Autobahn near Salzburg....
.
Town twinning
St-Nazaire, FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, since 1969 Eisenhüttenstadt
Eisenhüttenstadt
Eisenhüttenstadt is a town in the Oder-Spree district of Brandenburg, Germany at the border with Poland. The town was founded in 1950 alongside a new steel mill as a socialist model city and has a population of 32,214...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, since 1986 (the first West and East German town twinning
Town twinning
Twin towns and sister cities are two of many terms used to describe the cooperative agreements between towns, cities, and even counties in geographically and politically distinct areas to promote cultural and commercial ties.- Terminology :...
) Matiguás
Matiguás
Matiguas is a municipality in the Matagalpa department of Nicaragua....
, Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
, since 1986 Bochnia
Bochnia
Bochnia is a town of 30,000 inhabitants on the river Raba in southern Poland. The town lies approximately in halfway [] between Tarnów and the regional capital Kraków . Bochnia is most noted for its salt mine, the oldest functioning in Europe, built circa 1248...
, since 2001
Famous people
- Michel NeyMichel NeyMichel Ney , 1st Duc d'Elchingen, 1st Prince de la Moskowa was a French soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of France created by Napoleon I...
(1769–1815), Marshal of FranceMarshal of FranceThe Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements... - Eduard von KnorrEduard von KnorrErnst Wilhelm Eduard von Knorr was a German admiral of the Kaiserliche Marine who helped establish the German colonial empire.-Life:...
(1840–1920), colonial admiral - Paul Emil von Lettow-VorbeckPaul Emil von Lettow-VorbeckPaul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck was a general in the Imperial German Army and the commander of the German East Africa campaign. For four years, with a force that never exceeded about 14,000 , he held in check a much larger force of 300,000 British, Belgian, and Portuguese troops...
(1870–1964), colonial general and politician - Esther BéjaranoEsther BéjaranoEsther Béjarano , Violette Jacquet, and Anita Lasker Wallfisch are among the last survivors of the Girl orchestra of Auschwitz.- Biography :...
(born 1924), survivor of the Women's Orchestra of Auschwitz - Oskar LafontaineOskar LafontaineOskar Lafontaine is a German politician, former German finance minister, former chairman of the Social Democratic Party and former Minister-President of the state of Saarland. Since 2007 he was co-chairman of The Left...
(born 1943), German politician - Rainer RuppRainer RuppRainer Rupp was a top spy who worked under the codenames Mosel and later Topas for the East German intelligence service HVA in the NATO headquarters in Brussels from 1977 until 1989, releasing documents of the highest importance to the Eastern Bloc.-Biography:Rupp grew up in...
(born 1945), spy (Topas) - Ralf AltmeyerRalf AltmeyerProf. Dr. Ralf M. Altmeyer is a German virologist who leads the ', a joint institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institut Pasteur and Shanghai Municipal Government, founded in 2004....
(born 1966), virologist
External links
- City of Saarlouis
- Fire Brigade of Saarlouis (Saarlouis has one of the oldest Volunteer fire departmentVolunteer fire departmentSee also the Firefighter article and its respective sections regarding VFDs in other countries.A volunteer fire department is a fire department composed of volunteers who perform fire suppression and other related emergency services for a local jurisdiction.The first organized force of...
s of Germany) - History of Saarlouis 1 and Saarlouis 2 (renamed to Saarlautern) 1936-1945
- History of one of the most favomous companies in Saarlouis: Donnerbräu